Death rates are rising sharply among young men as drug-related fatalities add to the effects of Aids and suicide, government statisticians reported yesterday.

Mortality rates are also on the increase among young women, for whom misuse of alcohol rather than drugs is a cause of growing concern.

Trends are worst among the early 30s, but the researchers cautioned against over-reaction. They said numbers of deaths remain too small to warrant talk of a 'thirty-something malaise'.

However, they warned that a close eye must be kept on the figures because of the impact on overall life expectancy and the emergence of key public health issues such as drug-related deaths.

The trends are set out in the first issue of Health Statistics, a quarterly journal from the Office for National Statistics, which analyses mortality rates from 1979 to 1996.

Previous research showed that death rates among young men started to worsen in the late 1980s with the emergence of Aids and an increase in suicide. The new analysis shows a continuation of this, spurred by a rise in deaths among men dependent on drugs. Death rates among young women are shown to have also started to climb in the 1990s, driven by alcohol-related diseases, Aids, leukaemia and lymphoma.

Karen Dunnell, the journal's editor and co-author of the analysis, said the trend among young men was marked. 'We first thought it was down to Aids/HIV, but we had this increase in suicide rates so it was a combination of those two. What we are seeing is emergence of the drug factor, added to those others.'

A second study in Health Statistics gives fresh evidence of health inequalities, showing life expectancy for men in professional or managerial jobs was 76 years in 1992-95. For those in partly-skilled or unskilled jobs, it was 71. For women, the figures were 81 and 78 respectively.

Health Statistics also reports a continued rise in abortion rates since spring 1996. In the quarter to September 30, the rate was up 4 per cent on the same period in 1997. The rise started after the scare over certain brands of contraceptive pill in autumn 1995, but Ms Dunnell said it was 'somewhat puzzling' it was continuing.

More than 21 per cent of all pregnancies end in abortion, compared to 19.7 per cent in 1995.